Rahul targets Modi for divisive politics

Congress does not give orders, that is done by the BJP: Rahul Gandhi.

New Delhi |
Updated: February 25, 2014 1:06 am

Targeting Narendra Modi, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Monday referred to Gujarat government freezing ownership of land of farmers from other states to claim the BJP plays divisive politics to gain electoral mileage. He said the BJP believes in vesting all powers in one man while the Congress wanted power to trickle down to people.

A day after Modi told a public meeting in Punjab that he will ensure no Sikh farmer will go out of Gujarat, Rahul spoke about the plight of farmers in Kutch after the 1965 Indo-Pak war. Rahul, during an interactive session with farmers in Gannaur in Haryana, said farmers in Kutch “were crying” when they met him.

“All of a sudden, insiders became outsiders. They asked me are we Indians or outsiders…This is the difference between BJP and the Congress. For us, everyone is an insider, be it Hindu, Muslim or Sikh and from whichever caste. Even Indians living in the US are insiders… A ‘UP wallah’ is an outsider in Maharashtra, a Sikh in Gujarat is an outsider, someone from Haryana in is an outsider in Punjab…This is their politics and this is the difference between between them and us,” he said.

Reaching out to the farming community, Rahul cited green revolution and nationalisation of banks in the 1960s and the farm loan waiver and Land Acquisition Act of the recent times and argued that the Congress helped farmers. Talking about UPA government’s rights-based initiatives, he said the Congress would bring in right to healthcare, for farmers and the poor, if voted back to power.